Bad Rounds

This is a discussion on Bad Rounds within the Reloading forums, part of the Defensive Ammunition & Ballistics category; My father bought 1,000rds of 9mm at a gun show that I could not attend with him. If I had, I probably would have stopped ...

Bad Rounds

My father bought 1,000rds of 9mm at a gun show that I could not attend with him. If I had, I probably would have stopped him from making this mistake. The problem is the rounds are reloads of all different kinds, some REALLY hot and others jam or just dont fire at all. I had to pick through some of them to find a few rounds that "looked" to be okay (some of the bullets are seated WAY too deep) and put them through my gun. The second round, the bullet got lodged halfway down the tube!

Obviously, these rounds should not be trusted and never fired. I have pulled all the bullets and separated the powder in a separate container. Most of the brass looks to be in good condition.

My questions are: can I decap the primers in my press unfired without an explosion inside my die? Should I toss the powder I recovered or can I reuse it? What would you do? Thanks.

My opinions? Sell, or reuse the bullets you've pulled if you are able. The powder....use it for fertilizer on your houseplants, or in your garden. Forget re-using powder....you don't know what it is. De-capping or de-priming live primers hits a nerve with me, mainly because I still have a small pistol primer lodged in the palm of my left hand (about six years now). I just wouldn't do it ever again, and I would urge others not to try. If you somehow get the notion that I'm wrong and end up doing this anyway, you should do them one at a time, then remove the live primer and put it aside. Never let de-capped, live primers build up around or under, or in a confined space near the process of doing so (I've also split a treated 4x4 post with accumulated live primers that had been de-capped. You're just asking for trouble and a chain reaction that could cause you injury. Gloves and safety glasses should always be worn while reloading. Any gloves are better than nothing. Others may tell you it's okay to de-prime live primers, and they may have had great success in doing so for many years and many thousands of rounds without incident. But the thing is, there may come that day. It's flirting with disaster in my opinion. You could try to sell the primed brass as is, otherwise it's mostly a loss. To look at a primer that hasn't been struck is like looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, and those that will tell you that 'killing' live primers, or rendering them inert by some form or fashion are still playing Russian roulette by their own means and methods. That one time you're unsuccessful will cost you more than the effort. Believe me......live primers should only go in........struck/fired primers come out. My left hand works fine. No...I didn't go to the doctor as it didn't bleed, and the nearest ER was maybe 35 miles away. Luck is just a four letter word when you won't listen to common sense.

Resize brass with primer in it and use it. I would trim it all to the same length or sort it by lenght so I got the crimp right. Don't use powder, you don't know what it is, might not even all be the same kind. Might be able to reuse bullets, but I would weigh them first. Don't even think about shooting the rounds with bullet seated way to deep, could create pressure problems.

It's going to be a slow process, but, I would get yourself an inertia bullet puller, such as an RCBS, pull the bullets, dump the powder; now you have primed brass and corresponding bullets. then you can reload them or sell the primed brass & bullets to someone who will reload them.

You will take a loss in time and $$$, but, think of what the alternative will cost you if the gun blows up! It also provides you an opportunity to scold your dad.......you know.....kind of a chance to teach us older guys we can still learn a lesson!

You can render the primers inert with oil. Then you can deprime safely. Tumble your brass to clean all of the oil out or you will ruin the next primer and powder you put in.

This is what I was looking for. I was going to just fire the primers with my gun and decap them and reuse the brass. ( I dont care about the primers, I dont know what they are and I dont trust them.) But the is bad for my gun and was looking for a better way of dealing with them. What kind of oil should I use? How much and for how long should it sit? Thanks

Originally Posted by Freedomofchoice

You will take a loss in time and $$$, but, think of what the alternative will cost you if the gun blows up! It also provides you an opportunity to scold your dad.......you know.....kind of a chance to teach us older guys we can still learn a lesson!

.

Oh! I have already told him not to buy anything or do anything with his gun without my supervision or permission! He is a new gun owner and excited about it, only he just isnt very knowledgeable about it. He is learning for a 65 year old!

Last edited by JD; January 10th, 2010 at 11:56 PM.
Reason: merged posts

I did an ah dangit yesterday,I switched my 550 over from 223 to 45 acp,and I'm cranking out bullets like they're cheap,about 85 bullets into 100 primers I look up and realise I forgot to put any pistol powder in the powder drop.Now I gotta pull about 85 bullets and reload them with powder this time

If so, forget de-arming the primers with oil. Why chance leaving oil residue in the casing to ruin the next load? And you don't know what primers are in them, could be magnums. Fire the emptied casing in your gun (good dry-fire practice) spread the powder on the lawn or garden, save the bullets.

This is what I was looking for. I was going to just fire the primers with my gun and decap them and reuse the brass. ( I dont care about the primers, I dont know what they are and I dont trust them.) But the is bad for my gun and was looking for a better way of dealing with them. What kind of oil should I use? How much and for how long should it sit? Thanks

This is no "badder" for your gun than shooting completed rounds, and is what I would do unless you have several hundred rounds to deal with.

As for oil, a small shot of WD-40 in each primer hole will do it. Let it set for a few minutes and then de-prime as normal. After doing this, I would tumble the cases in hot soapy water for 20-30 minutes and then rinse and dry them.

Your problem is the prime reason I would NEVER buy any reloaded ammo from someone unless I personally know the person and have seen their re-manufacturing facility.

Got to say I agree with Ram Rod 100%. The bullets may still be usable, but given the inferior quality of these rounds, you'd need to weigh each one to make sure it's listed weight is accurate. Under NO circumstances should you attempt to reuse the powder.

Not looking to debate anyone, but I'll also throw this out. Years ago, I took 12 old brass that I wasn't going to load anymore, primed them and then filled each case with WD-40. Let the cases set for 2 weeks. Every single one of them popped when fired in my revolver and with what sounded to be the same authority as a pristine primer. Take it for what it's worth, but my one little individual test indicated to me that oil on a primer was not a definitive way to deactivate it.

The other day I had a friend had a 223 cartridge stuck like a fat kids hand in a cookie jar,It wasn't letting the Bolt Carrier Group lock up so the gun was out of battery,I tried everything to xtract the stuck cartridge and it wouldn't budge,I don't like tapping on loaded rounds,but used a rod down the barrel to set the bullet back enough to spray wd40 down the barrel to kill the powder,then after about 5 minutes tapped the case out,I have never seen a case stuck that hard and sumpin tells me it wasn't resized right

Thanks for all the advice. Shooting primers is no different than shooting loaded rounds, but its just like shooting blanks in the military. Didnt really want to do it because it meant hours of cleaning. So I decided to just suck it up and pop the primers. I cleaned my pistol and already reloaded about half of them. Again, thanks for all the help and advice!